Why Cheat?

It seems that the pressures to win are really widespread. Is it becoming a norm rather than an exception? I have read an interesting article that seems to indicate that may well be the case.

Student behaviours will mirror those of the people around them. The old adage "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" is most apt when we look closely at student behaviours. They learnt their behaviours from those around them - I include myself in this category. It is really a matter of modeling and using both appropriate behaviour and terminology. If we imply that the learning is over and that they have reached "it", the child will comply and slow their progress. They will not see the reason to continue providing the great effort as the chances of guaranteed! You did say that they have made it, and as we know children tend to think literally. 

The short video tells us a little more about the psyche involved in a student's attitude to cheating and other misconduct.

Students like the rest of us like receiving praise. They seem to take particular delight in receiving it from significant adults in their lives. The push to receiving it will make them search for and adopt the most successful strategies. If it involves the "bending of rules" then that seems OK. A recent look at 'cheating by students' shows an interesting rise in the practice and a decrease in the social disapproval of it! 

Cheating no longer carries the stigma that it used to. Less social disapproval coupled with increased competition for admission into universities and graduate schools has made students more willing to do whatever it takes to get the A.

After all they see this mirrored all around them every day. They actually do not see this as cheating, but maybe as a slightly different set of rules that seem to apply in general society. I mean after all is it really affecting anyone else? 

So do we simply ignore it and accept it as part of life or try to make changes?
Is it a case of I see it everyday and nothing is done, so its Ok for me too?